Delme Parfitt: My 2013 wishlist for Welsh rugby

Delme Parfitt: My 2013 wishlist for Welsh rugby

LOOK, let’s hope Wales enjoy the rub of the green with injuries from a broader perspective, but the fitness of our No.1 tighthead prop remains central to the hopes of the national team going forward.

A dominant scrum puts Wales on the front foot, buys time for the half-backs and allows confidence to seep throughout the entire operation.

Jones has already had one spell out, missing the autumn internationals with a knee problem, so the law of averages would suggest he’ll be around for the Six Nations.

2. Rob Howley to break his duck

THE caretaker coach has yet to preside over a victory in a proper full-on Test match, losing all seven of his attempts so far.

It’s led some to suggest that in coaching parlance he’s a born follower rather than a leader – how he needs to prove that theory wrong in the Six Nations.

The players need to see that what he’s doing actually works, which will only come with winning games.

Warren Gatland, now well and truly into his Lions sabbatical, will be even more of a distant figure in the Six Nations than he was in November, so Howley really is going to have to stand up and be counted.

3. SOLUTION to the regional mess

IT’S far-fetched to expect an overarching solution to all ills affecting the regional game because I’m not sure one actually exists unless we rip the entire thing up and start afresh.

That won’t happen, but we can’t go on as we are with inadequate financial resources and a seasonal structure that is so heavily weighted in favour of the national team.

Who knows whether we’ll go down the route of a development region because since lobbing out that potential grenade a couple of weeks ago the silence of WRU chief executive Roger Lewis has been deafening.

However it all pans out though, I’d rather have two regions capable of winning the Heineken Cup than four with no realistic chance.

4. A better RaboDirect Pro12

I’M sorry, but sitting through the Christmas fixtures did nothing to convince me that this league isn’t an absolute pile of dross.

No wonder crowds are down because people won’t pay to watch rubbish in these austere times.

There’s no intensity, no momentum and no edge whatsoever to the competition until the play-offs, and even then it’s hard to get too excited.

There were 82,000 at Twickenham over the festive period to watch Harlequins against London Irish, and like it or not the Aviva Premiership is light years ahead in terms of a product.

5. A new Wales No.10

WITH Rhys Priestland out for the rest of the season, it’s a chance for someone else to grab hold of the most talked about jersey in the game and make it their own.

Priestland was being much maligned before his misfortune, so it would be brilliant to see a new face emerge and be successful in the role.

Dan Biggar may well get the first opportunity and I’d love him to take it by showing he can control Test matches – and there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be aided by a dominant pack.

Whoever comes through, there’s been enough hand-wringing over this position in recent months, even though t’was ever thus.

6. The Lions to win in Australia

HAVING not won a Test series since 1997, the Lions badly need to triumph Down Under but with so little time to prepare as a squad they are up against it big time.

Remember, while the Lions form every four years, for the Aussies it’s a once every 12 years opportunity and so the chance to make history is just as tantalising. At home, and with all their big names fit, the Wallabies, even though they are meant to be the weakest of the Lions’ tour assignments, are going to take some beating.

7. Warren Gatland to return to harmonious Welsh coaching set-up

WILL Gatland even come back after the Lions? It depends on whether there is a sniff of the All Blacks job at the time, and with Steve Hansen so safe at present that’s unlikely.

I reckon the Kiwi will be back, but what will be the ramifications of his decision to omit Shaun Edwards from the Lions trip?

Everyone is making light of it at present, but the proof of the pudding and all that....

Wales know all about the damage a Lions tour can do to a coaching set-up having been there with Graham Henry in 2001.

Times are different now, but all the same there are nagging concerns.

8. Sam Warburton to captain the Lions

HE was in pole position only a few months ago but indifferent form since the summer has seen him usurped by other contenders, with the English press starting to bang the drum for Chris Robshaw.

With all due respect though, Robshaw isn’t in Warburton’s league as a specialist openside and his decision-making on the pitch during England’s autumn campaign was deeply suspect.

I’d love to see Warburton get back to his peak in the Six Nations and state his case once more to lead the Lions.

9. The Ospreys to reach the Heineken Cup LAST EIGHT

ADMITTEDLY, this is a long shot, but we are talking about a wish list here.

Steve Tandy’s side will need to beat Leicester at home and deprive them of a bonus point and then claim five points away to Treviso just to put themselves in with a shout.

Stranger things have happened, and if the Ospreys can show the kind of guts they displayed in their matches against Toulouse – going down doggedly in horrendous circumstances away then beating the French giants at home – then you wouldn’t rule them out.

10. London Welsh to stay up

WRITTEN off as relegation certainties after reaching the Aviva Premiership via an appeal last summer, Lyn Jones has done wonders to give Welsh a glorious opportunity of staying in the top flight by engineering four wins and four bonus points up to the start of this weekend.

Could the club eventually come under the jurisdiction of the Welsh Rugby Union and effectively become another region which could actively benefit the Welsh game?

Who knows? The idea is on the WRU radar – but it needs London Welsh to stay up. Fingers crossed...

11. Young talent continue to emerge

THE one thing the Welsh game appears to be doing right at present is bringing through youngsters, having a better record per capita than the English right now.

The problem with just four regions is finding somewhere for them all to play at elite level. But all the same, keep them coming.

Let’s hope the Wales Under-20s can build on their Junior World Championship third place – which included victory over the previously unbeaten Baby Blacks – in the upcoming Six Nations, and then do well gain on the global stage in north-west France later in the year.

The French exodus is stemmed

ALEX Cuthbert has shown the way by staying at the Blues, and though he is still very young, he has to be a lead for others to follow.

It would be naive to think others will not cross the channel between now and the next World Cup, but what we can’t have is everyone leaving the moment they impress in a Wales jersey.

That starts by giving players an environment worth staying for other than the carrot of being looked upon favourably by the Wales management in terms of selection.

Worryingly, there’s much work to do on that front, as we’ve already discussed.

13. More straight talking

WHEN Gareth Thomas questioned the desire of Welsh players during a wretched autumn campaign, there was all manner of uproar and much consternation.

But the game here needs straight-talkers like him – who don’t forget won 100 caps – holding it to account.

Gwyn Jones has done it for years, along with one or two others like Robert Jones.

But too many players who have recently retired and are afraid to criticise their mates are appearing on our screens and airwaves and frankly their contributions are tiresome and pointless.

WalesOnline is part of Media Wales, publisher of the Western Mail, South Wales Echo, Wales on Sunday and the seven Celtic weekly titles, offering you unique access to our audience across Wales online and in print.